Velar peps up JLR sales

Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover Automotive today reported a 38 percent increase in its Q2 FY2017-18 pre-tax profits to £385 million (Rs 3,789 crore). Revenues increased by 11.5 percent to £6.3 billion (Rs 62,010 crore) with an increase in margin (EBIT) of 1 percent to 5.2 percent.

JLR says that it witnessed higher sales and profits on the back of continuing ramp-up of new models such as the Range Rover Velar, Land Rover Discovery, Jaguar XF Sportbrake, Jaguar F-PACE and, in China, the Jaguar XFL. Its retail sales grew 5.1 percent to 149,690 units, with increases in China (27.4%) and the US (5.1%) offsetting lower sales in the UK and Europe.

Commenting on the growth, Dr Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “We have delivered solid growth in quarterly profit and revenues amid rising demand for our award-winning products. Although we are facing headwinds and uncertainty in some markets, Jaguar Land Rover is well positioned to deliver further global expansion.”

As part of the company’s ongoing product offensive, manufacturing expansion and new technology programme, Jaguar Land Rover’s investment spending was more than £1 billion (Rs 9,843 crore) in Q2 FY2017-18. And total investment spending for the full year is expected to exceed £4 billion (Rs 39,372 crore) for extending its model range and manufacturing footprint, including the investment in a new plant in Slovakia and new models such as the Range Rover Velar, latest Land Rover Discovery and Jaguar XF Sportbrake. Its upcoming models include Jaguar’s new compact performance SUV the E-PACE, refreshed Range Rover and Range Rover Sport (including plug-in hybrid models),and the Jaguar I-PACE electric performance SUV.

Dr Speth concluded: “Our product portfolio continues to excite and surprise. The all-new Land Rover Discovery is now on sale everywhere and exciting new and existing customers, while the new Velar, the fourth Range Rover, is now enticing a new audience and helping to drive sales growth.

He further stated, that “Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we will continue to focus on our strategic objective of achieving profitable, sustainable growth and will continue to adapt and innovate in the current challenging market conditions.”